help.. i need some sleep...

hi.. today i stumbled upon this site, and thought HOW GREAT!!!
i recently adopted Betsy (a korean short haired kitty).. about a month ago.. she's almost 4 months old.

in the last month.. ive had very little sleep... as you all probably have experienced. she wakes up at 430am on average and wants to play... pounces on my legs, chews on the covers, etc etc etc.. walks on my face..
i read some of the discussions that say to close the bedroom door, but i live in a studio. id like to lock her up in the bathroom, but that just wouldn't fly tooo well. if she does something bad, i usually lock her in the bathroom for a few minutes... seconds.. until she starts meowing..

so.. normally... i throw her off the bed.. she lands, and then comes back.. so i think she thinks that im playing.. tried spraying water, but doesn't work. it got pretty bad this morning, so i locked her in the bathroom... but that didn't work either. sigH*

o.. ive also tried giving her plenty of aerobic exercise before bed... nada.

in anycase... any additional suggestions?

here's something kind of funny though... she plays fetch.

You need to be very patient. Kittens are by nature hyperactive, and love to play. It sounds like you need to get her lots of interactive toys. They will keep her busy.
By the way, early mornings is the normal active time for cats.
The key is PATIENCE. Believe or not, she will settle down.

Locking her in the bathroom when she's "bad" is not going to do much good. Cats don't have that long an attention span, and she doesn't know what' she's done.

You have to stop the behavior right away with something like a stern NO, then redirect her to the correct place or behavior.

As everyone else said, she's a kitten and is gong to be more energetic. Cats are also nocturnal, and that's when their hunting instnct kicks in.

As someone suggested in a similar thread before, think about geting another cat. And you may be happier with one that's a bit oilder so it might calm the kitten down. Regardlessthey'll play together and maybe give you a break.

My guys go nuts around the same tijme, but mostly they'll chase each other around,especially if I'm asleep.

My wee Tonk had just that problem. But I managed to establish a routine with him so 'most mornings' he remains quiet untill I wake up (or about 9.30 - whichever is sooner).

Confining him to the laundry at night was a necessity (and so was patience) but if your unwilling to confine kitty then my strategy may not work for you! I wrote all about it on a post called 'help this kitten is tearing us apart'

Good Luck

Welcome to the joys of owning a kitten

I always used to play with my two an hour before i went to bed so as to tire them out, but what weve told many members here is to give their kittens a little wet food before bed as well as this helps.

Please don't throw her off the bed or squirt her with water, because like the others have all said she's a kitten and she doesn't know any different, and she looks to you as the next best thing to her mum so let her be with you.

She will settle down as she gets older as well.

Are you getting her spayed?

Yes, I remember those days being waken at 5 am to Luna pouncing on my nose. I miss those days in a way. She was so cute then (not that she still isn't)...just kitten cute.

Start ignoring her. At first she'll continue to wake you, but after a week or two she'll get the idea. Next thing you know you'll wake up with her curled up beside you!

Welcome to the world of kittens! Eventually you will hopefully find these things cute and learn to live with them. I think I just about have...

I am in the same boat you are. I live in a studio also. Mollie will be 1 in June and she still insists on playing and exploring at night. Some nights are better than others. It seems like she explores something new every night. I tired everything as well. The wet food...playing with her before bed.....ignoring her.......the stern no when I catch her on my table.... and oh yes, the water gun...I gave up on that one! She is VERY playful. I think she rather play with her fishing pole than anything else! (other than eatting her wet food!) After reading everything on this site...I guess patience is the best thing right now. Is it true over time, they will be more on your schedule? Let's hope this happens sooner than later! Who knows what she will discover tonight but I love her anyway!

My Skittles has a ton of toys and it keeps her super busy at night and she only snuggles with me. She knows I am not a toy.

Try giving your self a sleeping pill, wear ear plugs and dive under the covers..... only joking. But you aren't going to get your kitten to stop acting like a kitten. Get a cat tree and some interactive toys, but she's still going to think YOU are far more fun to play with. She will settle down and just snuggle more as she gets older.

It is something we all go through with young animals, including human babies! Getting them to sleep on your schedule is one of hte joys of being a parent, of real babies or furbabies. But it usually happens eventually; I used to play very actively with mine and then feed them a snack right before bedtime. It takes some strong will to ignore them when they want to play at 5 AM, but you must try to do it or else you have given in to their ideas and they will continue to wake you. But don't spray her as she will not connect that with what she has done.

I foil ball works well. Skittles loves the cap to the milk

I just thought of this but 2 cats are better then one. They will occupie each other. I am sure another homeless one needs a good home

Don't worry you will get use to it, all cat owner have been there at one point and their isn't anything you can do.

i think my favorite response is... dont worry youll get used to it. haha...

actually.. ive been trying the ignore her suggestion.. its worked okay until she took a huge bite out of my big toe. sigH*

funny thing though.. during the day, when i ignore her, she follows me around everywhere.

thanks for all your suggestions!

With Rocky, I eventually got used to it and would finally sleep through it. I just make sure my feet were covered since he loved to grab and bite my toes too.

It was funny though, because he's a fetcher. I'd wake up to all his toys surround me, on top of me, all over the bed. He'd bring them all night trying to get me to play. LOL

I also agree that there will come a time he'll calm down and you'll sort of miss it a little.

Sibohan was the same way she was so "lonely" at night she would run in and out meow at the celing and drive me NUTZ. In know it's not looked on as appropriate here but I did try the spray bottle approach, it actually worked very well, when she work me I sprayed her she ran away after only about 5 sprays she stoped waking me up and actually started sleepting beside me at night.
Good luck

Cats are nocturnal, but there are some tricks you can use, including very active play before bedtime. A week ago, I resorted to using a feeder with a timer, so that Jamie doesn't wake me up at 5 a.m. on weekends for breakfast. It's actually working. I fill it with dry food before I go to bed, give him a few morsels, and have found that he actually seems to like it. I only found feeders with plastic dishes, which I don't use, but discovered that I could remove the plastic tray that came with the feeder, and use a china or stainless steel bowl.

I totally understand where you're coming from. I recently adopted two kittens, boys...so they LOVE romping around at night when we three should all be sleeping. I also live in a studio, so for a while there I thought I was basically going to have to go the whole next couple of months without a decent night's rest.

It'll pass, don't worry.

I can't tell if they've gotten accustomed to my schedule, or if I've adapted to their playtime, but in any case when I need to go to sleep, I sleep. Took about four weeks before I even realized that it wasn't a problem anymore.

Hang in there!